Well known Saab author, artist, and former designer, Lance Cole, has launched an artwork (see attached image) as a tribute to Erik Carlsson who passed away last month.

Lance is the author of two Saab books (‘Saab Cars: The Complete Story’ being current) and numerous magazine and media features on Saab – including an obituary to the company upon its demise, and a recent (British) national press obituary to Erik Carlsson.

Lance says: “Erik was very kind to me on the few occasions I met him. As he was to so many, he was a true hero and an amazing man. I wanted to capture the exuberance of his driving and the spirit of Saab, so how else but via a painting of his toreador red Saab 96 two-stroke depicted on a snowy Monte Carlo Rally scene en route to victory.”

A donation from sales of the print will be made to the Saab Museum Trollhattan Sweden

The painting is in acrylic and is available as a high quality print in three sizes:

A small number of artist’s remarques will be available upon request at GB£100.00

Foreign exchange rates apply at time of all orders

To order your print,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
and arrange payment (including PayPal) and consignment in a tube by standard post, inclusive.

Note: To inhibit unauthorised copying, the red hue of the low res image in this article has been altered from the original.

As I write this edition of the President's letter, word is coming from Sweden/UK that Saab racing icon and brand ambassador to many US conventions, Erik Carlsson, has left us.

It's bittersweet to share enthusiasm on the countdown to the Saab Owners' Convention 2015 (SOC15) in Lexington Kentucky, while thinking back on how many times Erik has made an appearance and delighted Convention goers for many of the past events. To that end, we will have a tribute to Erik at this year's SOC. We encourage all of our members and those that have met Erik and shared in his wit and charm to post their Erik moments on our Facebook page. We will also be collecting moments for the Convention web site.

Moving forward, registration is open at www.saabconvention.com, rooms at the Griffin Gate are filling up, but we did add 20 more rooms to our block for Wednesday and Thursday as of this writing. If you want to stay on property, don't delay!

In this month's edition of NINES you will find the ballot for the annual SCNA board elections (on page 25), to be conducted during the meeting at the Convention. Please take the time to fill it out and mail it in to make your vote count.

The Saab Club of North America would like to welcome our newest Saab Service Provider, Svensson Automotive, in Lafayette, CA. Svensson Automotive is offering a 10% discount on parts and service when you present your Club Membership card at the time of service write up. The shop is an official Saab Service Center providing geniune Saab replacement parts and factory trained and experienced Saab technicians. Check out the Saab Service and Discount page for contact information, and thank Svensson Automotive for their dedication to Saab Club members when you stop by!

Nevs’ Electric Vehicle Shown Today

Today Nevs presented the Saab 9-3 Electric Vehicle as designed and produced as part of a prototype series in Trollhättan.

The car is a modified Saab 9-3 Aero Sedan where the batteries are placed under the floor, keeping the full interior space as well as the luggage compartment intact. With that, the Saab 9-3 EV is just as practical as the Saab 9-3 Aero with gasoline engine.

The Saab 9-3’s famous driving-experience is of course preserved in the EV, helped by its low center of gravity and a 50/50 weight distribution.

“We are happy to present the result of Nevs engineering into a real Saab EV product. The Saab cars’ well-known performance and safety is maintained and we foresee a very good product for the market. When we developed the Saab 9-3 Aero Sedan Model Year 14, we focused on enhancing the driving experience, safety and quality. And the starting point for our development of the Electric Vehicle project was to maintain all the good attributes and characteristics”, said Stig Nodin, Vice President Engineering and Product Development.

The car shown in Trollhättan today is one from the first prototype series of cars and it was produced in the Trollhättan plant in May.

The car is equipped with lithium-ion batteries from Beijing National Battery Technology, a company within the Chinese group of green tech companies owned by Kai Johan Jiang’s company National Modern Energy Holdings Ltd.

In this phase of the development the performance of the prototype series are limited to:

The range for this prototype series of cars is approximately 200 km.

Acceleration 0-100 km/h, 0-60 mph 10 sec.

Maximum speed of 120 km/h.

Engine power 140 hp, 100 kW.

The prototype series have multiple reasons:

To enhance the understanding of EV’s in the complete company.

To serve as a reference for specification of coming production model(s).